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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

August 30

One more day to go!Oops, one more day and another month is gone. So what, it's still summer here on the island or? An awful amount of leaves from our maples was down on the lawn. Actually it was the third time Bea raked leaves. And the apple tree in front of the house...still sitting full of it, but we brought two big garbage containers over to the forest edge. Would love to eat them, but these are full of worms. Have been that way every year. Friends told us to either spray the tree with some you-know-what but we are not inclined, or keep CHICKENS under the tree early in spring as these would eat up the larvae or as whatever these apple eaters exist, before they crawl up on the tree and getting homey in our fruits. Luckily, we also have apple trees which are not a target to those little creatures. They produce pretty good and if we would take care of all the fruit we would have apples in our menue every day and Bea's blog would be pretty boring.

Last winter Bea went to a California flea market and bought one of those little electric kitchen juicers. And now was the time to get it into action. I tried with a few yellow apples first. Have to peel them first, then send the chunks down a chute and apply light pressure. Out comes the juice on the side. When Bea joined me she cheated and put carots in the chute. Result was my apple juice turned orange. We produced enough juice to fill a glas. We mixed in 50% water then tried it. Yummy it was and since just about every fruit can be used it gives a good variety of juices.

Bea found an animal todayBea had cleaned up the outside stairs to the basement, and now she was holding up a big clear plastic jar. First I thought she had gotten a Garter Snake again. (Bea has a special technique for that) but this was no snake. From the inside of the jar a fat brown toad was looking at me. As we found out later, it was an Eastern American Toad.

The Eastern American Toad (B. a. americanus) is a medium-sized toad usually ranging in size from 5–9 cm (2.0–3.5 in); record 11.1 centimetres (4.4 in).The colour and pattern is somewhat variable. Skin colour can change depending on humidity, stress, and temperature. Colour changes range from yellow to brown to black. Their breeding habits are very similar to The call or voice of a breeding male is a high trill, lasting 6–30 seconds, similar to a ringing telephone. They hibernate during the winter. While the belly is usually spotted, it is generally more so on the forward half (in some rare individuals there may be few or no spots). (read more:)

What we did with it? Bea released it into the woods.

Bea was just showing me the pics after Irene's damage in Vermont. I was shocked to see the extent of the damage caused by flooding and I must say our hearts are going out to those who have lost their homes, their belongings and even their loved ones. What a disaster Irene has caused. Will those people receive help? We are just wondering.